


And still its message is of peace

by callmecasandra



Series: The Cuckoo [1]
Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: F/M, Family Secrets, References to Prince Serg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-08
Updated: 2014-06-08
Packaged: 2018-02-03 21:25:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1757427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmecasandra/pseuds/callmecasandra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gregor need not have worried.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And still its message is of peace

Kareen wonders whose idea it was first. Negri? Count Vorkosigan, perhaps? Somehow, she doubts it was Ezar's, though she can guess exactly how the matter came to his attention. It was not difficult to deduce that her tear soaked vow to never again allow Serg to impregnate her had been picked up by ImpSec. It had been very foolish of her to forget, even in that terrible moment, that she was never alone. 

Ezar, when he spoke to her about it, had made it plain that he understood her reluctance. He'd even agreed to ensure that Serg could never impregnate her, if she but agreed to his plan. He promised to protect her from all consequences of it, and any further contact with Serg. 

It would have been hard to refuse those terms even if Kareen had not wanted a child. 

She waits now, alone once more, for the doctor to arrive. A fertility specialist, Ezar had apparently told Serg, for Serg had -- had brought it up, cruelly, of course, though she tries not to dwell on that, the last time she lay with him. She had had to force herself to do it, but it had had to be done. She was Vor.

_Guarding the genome is women's work_ , she smiles to herself.

Of course, the father had to carry Vorbarra blood, even if he did not carry the name. (Dorca, Ezar had reminded her, had inherited through his mother.) And who better than one of Xav's half-Betan heirs? Serg had not benefited from being Vorbarra on both sides. 

She wonders, idly, how Ezar had persuaded Padma Vorpatril to agree. The boy was affable enough, it was true, and it was the Emperor asking, but still. Fathering the next emperor was an honor he would not likely survive, should Serg begin to suspect. 

But Serg would not. 

The plot had been perfectly done. Gametes, taken from her and Padma separately, and Kareen's understanding of this part was admittedly somewhat hazy -- prodded together by the doctor, and grown in glass for a few weeks. 

At the same time, she lay -- one final time, she promised herself -- with Serg, so the dates would match. 

Today, her son will be implanted in her womb. Her doctor, Komarran trained, assured her it was a very old and stable technique. 

Today, the doctor will pronounce her pregnant, and Ezar will have an unpleasant scene with Serg, where he forbids his son from contact with Kareen, revealing that he knows how her previous pregnancy ended. Kareen is glad that she is not expected to be present for that. 

She will bear a child, for herself, and a son for Barrayar, and trust to Ezar to somehow protect them all from Serg's madness.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Frederick Locker-Lampson's "The Cuckoo"
> 
> Fill for prompt: http://multikinkmemes.dreamwidth.org/2231.html?thread=84407#cmt84407  
> Originally posted at: http://multikinkmemes.dreamwidth.org/2231.html?thread=182455


End file.
